Tyler and Damian showed up to SEMA 2026 in Las Vegas with a 1962 F250 that dispenses real ice cream. That alone would be enough to stop traffic on the convention floor, but the two builders had spent months doing 98% of the work themselves, hand-stitching Alcantara leather seats, 3D-printing an ice cream cone detail to match the truck’s theme, and hiding every ignition coil behind a fake distributor so the engine reads like a classic Y-block from the outside. At a show where a thousand cars compete for a second glance, this one drew crowds. The Laughing Lion was there to capture it all.
SEMA 2026 packed the Las Vegas Convention Center with custom builds ranging from hand-fabricated hot rods to solar-powered three-wheelers, and the sheer variety made it clear that the show has expanded well beyond the traditional muscle car circuit.
Battle of the Builders and the builders behind it
The Battle of the Builders in Central Hall brought out the top 12 finalists, each one representing years of work. The lineup included Charles Cruz’s 1970 Plymouth Cuda, which Cruz entered as his best paint finalist of 2026, alongside Jordan Hanky’s 1974 Ford Capri MK1 and Kamaka Cox’s 1956 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud, a build so clean it seemed to hover. Steve Icona brought a 1945 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead to the new bike shootout competition, while Jesse Rigger’s 1969 Ford Mustang drew attention for an engine that one visitor described simply as ‘a beast.’
Not far away, the ice cream truck’s builders were still fielding questions. Tyler explained the powertrain without a pause: a Blueprint GM LS-compatible 376 cubic inch engine, essentially the 6.2-liter, controlled by a Terminator X pack with Holley EFI fuel rails, all drive-by-wire. Three deep-freeze coolers on sliding tracks in the bed can drop to nearly zero degrees and tuck completely out of sight when not in use. Damian stitched the seats himself from scratch using Apex’s new Alcantara line, and the 3D-printed ice cream accent on the dash was his idea. ‘The shift boot is also their brown Alcantara leather,’ Damian noted, walking through the interior with the kind of specificity that only comes from doing the work yourself.
Where the show got genuinely strange
The Future Tech Studios section opened with a 2019 Neo EP9 hypercar producing 1,360 horsepower, a 2026 Formula 1 car running 100% renewable fuel, and an ultra-tactical fully autonomous vehicle fitted with machine guns. A 2023 Model S Plaid rebuilt by TSK Collision Repair Center as a Cyber Punk Roadster had its entire exterior replaced with bullet-resistant stainless steel and carbon fiber. Safe Haven Defense demonstrated window film that stops 9mm, .45 caliber, and 5.7×28 rounds on existing glass without any visible sign it is there.
Appera’s solar-powered three-wheeler generated its own crowd. The vehicle weighs 2,200 pounds, carries a 400-mile battery pack compatible with Tesla chargers, and pulls up to 40 miles per day from its rooftop solar panels alone. The company, based in San Diego, plans to begin delivering the first of an initial 40 units by the end of the year at a price of $40,000. The representative who drove it up from San Diego noted the strangest part of the trip: ‘You kind of forget you’re in something that looks like a spaceship and next thing you know you look around and three people all at once are taking videos of you.’
Also on the floor: a 1952 Chevy COE custom hauler with a 454 mid-engine EFI, hydraulic tilt maple bed, and integrated tool storage built directly into the bodywork; a 1934 International Clown Car on a 1932 Coney Island carnival ride back seat with a 496 big-block Chevy and skinny tires; and what SEMA confirmed as the world’s fastest food truck, a hybrid of a 2021 C8 Corvette and a 1952 International Metro Van, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Somewhere between the burnout ring and the Wired Down Low Rider Show, a wedding took place at 1:00 p.m. on the convention floor. The officiant presented the new Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins to a room that smelled of burned rubber and fresh Alcantara.
A go-kart for children, priced at $6,000
Near the Klein Tools exhibit, a company called Go-Kart God unveiled a small electric drift vehicle called the Spark, designed primarily for children. It runs 60 to 90 minutes on a single charge under hard use. The company is based in Phoenix and sells through its website. The person at the booth confirmed it had just been unveiled at the show that day.
Back near the Roadster Shop walk, the 1962 F250 ice cream truck sat with its engine bay still warm from whatever the builders had been running earlier. The Holly EFI fuel rails caught the light, and the fake distributor sat flush on the back of the block, looking like it had been there since 1962.
Tyler summed up the build timeline without drama: they finished the last details the week before the show.
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